Iniya tīpāvali vālttukkal...

May the Diwali lights surround you and your loved ones 

with happiness and positivity. Have a happy and safe Diwali...

Spesis MP Mat Longkang dan 

MP burung Tiong yang pandai berkata2...

Sejak saya menjadi ahli Parlimen,maaf kata,  more often than not, saya amat jarang mendengar perbahasan yang awesome dari YB yang popular dengan "Kong Ka li Kong" ini dan juga Yb Arau. Oleh itu, bila YB ini menyatakan sesuatu , yang  bagi saya, amat tidak wajar kepada " wira atau hero frontliners negara", bagi saya, maaf kata lah, itulah, malangnya , kualiti perbahasan  YB ni. Cuma kali ini saya anggap YB ni telah melepasi garis merah. Beliau telah " encroached a forbidden zone! ". 

Jika Arau nampaknya pertahankan YB "Kong ka li kong" ini, saya menanti YAB PM Tebuk Atap yang Khianat Mandat Rakyat ini juga untuk pertahankan kenyataan YB tersebut ! Ada beran? YB sorang ini nampaknya tidak puas hati kenapa our superb DG ini dikatakan hanya "sibuk" mengadakan sidang media harian mengenai status wabak Covid-19 di Malaysia. Ya, idealnya YB Menteri Kesihatan atau YB timbalannya yang sewajarnya mengadakan sidang akhbar harian tu.  TAPI.. 

Be honest. Adakah YB rasa rakyat boleh yakin seyakin yakinnya, jika yang buat sidang akhbar harian isu Covid ini misalnya Menteri Kesihatan yang anjur orang minum air suam dan timbalannya yang didakwa kerana langgar PKP yang buat sidang akhbar harian isu Covid ini?  

Adakah YB yakin rakyat  tak akan dilanda sindrom kemurungan /depression jika Menteri Kesihatan atau timbalannya yang buat sidang akhbar harian ttg covid ini ?

Manusia macam YB or your kind mungkin sukar untuk menilai kejayaan atau kecemerlangan DG yang kami anggap wira atau hero Frontliners di negara ini. Akan tetapi perlukah ayat " takut mati" yang sangat berciri accusatory itu dilafazkan in the first place? 

Saya tidak ada di dalam dewan ketika YB ini berkata benda " jijik" tu. Jika diandaikan saya ada di dewan pada waktu itu, jujurnya saya tak pasti apa yang saya akan lakukan. Sudah tentu saya amat marah dan kecewa! Apa pun, saya  juga amat kesal kerana Yb Pengerang selaku Timbalan Speaker gagal membuat sebarang ruling sama ada kata-kata YB " kong ka li kong" itu boleh dikira wajar dan bersifat "parliamentary"? - Mohamed Hanipa Maidin

Khalid belasah Din di Parlimen...

No cover for frontline chief 

under malicious attack...

It is always supposed to be a serene affair with interjections of humour and wit when lawmakers exchange views on all matters which affect the welfare and well-being of the people for the benefit of all Malaysians.  The affairs are usually conducted in a civilised manner. When accusations are made, they are substantiated with facts and figures. It has and never will be the platform for individuals to vent their anger or settle personal scores against anyone inside or outside the confines of the august House.

If vitriol of words is poured on someone inside the House, there’s an opportunity for rebuttal which has happened several times. The repartee is sometimes a friendly banter but, in most cases, it has been exchanges of not-so-nice words. What transpired in the Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday was a full-frontal attack on Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah. It breached all protocols, etiquette and conventions. 

While previously, MPs watched helplessly in an air of expectedness from the usual suspects, this time, it came from someone whose voice was hardly heard in the past. Bintulu MP Tiong King Sing announced his presence with acidic remarks. Although they were not peppered with unparliamentary language, the sting was in the content of the speech he delivered.

Debating the Supply Bill 2021, Tiong made a series of charges including claiming that Noor Hisham is “afraid to die”. He also wrongly assumed that he did not come down personally to Sabah to monitor the Covid-19 situation. And to underscore his so-called negative perception on the doctor, he said: “I heard he (Noor Hisham) now wants his own project, to be the World Health Organisation's secretary-general.”

Where he obtained such information is for Malaysians to explore but that is not the issue. While the backbench remained silent to the unscrupulous attack, it was left to opposition MPs to take up cudgels to defend Noor Hisham. In the process, the Jelutong MP got evicted from the House.

But why didn’t any member of the cabinet stand up to Tiong’s sacrilege and defend Noor Hisham? What happened to the health minister and his two deputies? Where are they in the House? Someone sarcastically remarked that they were “busy promoting the air suam (warm water) cure” to their counterparts in “499 other countries” which the minister previously claimed he had conferred with.

It is no use lighting up Putrajaya in blue to honour frontliners when the country’s Number One in the frontline is being “flogged” publicly in Parliament. The silence of the front bench is telling indeed. How do they instil and cultivate the confidence of civil servants with such elegant silence?

Tiong never retracted his remarks despite being given an opportunity and hence they remain in the Hansard. He later issued a statement claiming to have expressed a “reflection of frustrations of frontliners facing Covid-19 virus pandemic challenges”. “My statement was not malicious. We all know that civil servants do not have it easy. They are all working hard for the country and its people but shortcomings must be identified and improved,” he said in a statement.

He has not apologised nor expressed regret but maintains it is his right to put matters of public interest on the table. Agreed, but why the personal attacks? So, if you know that civil servants are working hard, then why single out Noor Hisham? Isn’t he a civil servant too?

It appears that Tiong is making these remarks as an afterthought, perhaps he got his facts wrong or realising that he had stepped on someone’s foot or has been ticked off by members of the cabinet. Let us not forget he is a special envoy to China with ministerial status. While he should be projecting our image abroad, he seems to be running down officials of his own country.

The damage had already been done and Noor Hisham responded in his usual cool and calm manner to call on Tiong’s bluff. Short of saying that Tiong lied in Parliament, Noor Hisham said that he and his team had gone to the ground in Sabah at the end of August to check on the management and preparations prior to the Sabah state elections. Deputy director-general for public health Dr Chong Chee Keong and the prime minister's special adviser on public health Dr Jemilah Mahmood were in Sabah two weeks ago.

His riposte was a class act: “What is important is for us to do our duty. Our purpose is to break the chain of infection in the country. We can have our differences, but what is important is to break the chain of infection so that we can save the country from an increase of cases and the death rate.” While the Perikatan Nasional leaders’ silence was deafening, a loud dissenting voice was heard from across the seas. 

Sarawak’s State Tourism, Culture and Arts Minister Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah rebuked Tiong and said: “Honestly I was shocked. I didn’t expect it from him, I feel ashamed as well, as it came from a fellow Sarawakian.  "We should acknowledge what the frontliners have been doing in this difficult time.”

On Tiong’s insistence that he would not retract the remarks and merely wanted to reflect the frustration of some frontliners, Abdul Karim said Tiong was being overzealous and rude, especially in his position as an MP.

Can we hear more such voices from the government bench to denounce this MP? Is the silence because he is on the same side? Doesn’t anyone see the need to protect the integrity of the frontliners? - R.Nadeswaran,mk

JASA under Puad flopped, 

why use public funds to revive it?...

The Special Affairs Department (Jasa) became a flop despite millions of ringgit spent on propaganda purposes, as evident in BN's ouster from power in 2018, DAP central committee member Lim Kit Siang said today. "The question now is, why should Malaysian public monies be used by Jasa to manufacture and spread lies and falsehoods?" Lim asked in a statement.

He was responding to claims by Umno supreme council member and former Jasa director-general Mohd Puad Zarkashi, who claimed that DAP was "afraid" of the soon-to-be revived government agency. Then prime minister Najib Abdul Razak appointed Puad as Jasa head in March 2015. However, Puad quit in a huff in April 2018 after he was not fielded as a BN candidate.

After it was revealed that the Perikatan Nasional government wants to revive Jasa with an RM85.5 million budget for 2021, Puad said the amount was eye-opening, since BN only allocated RM30 million for the agency for 2018.

Puad claimed that one of Jasa's duties at the time was to respond to DAP's "lies on social media". For Lim, Puad was wrong to assert that DAP "feared" Jasa. "Why should Puad's Jasa be feared when it was such a great flop - or Najib would still be the prime minister and would not be convicted of corruption, abuse of power and money-laundering," he said.

In contrast, Lim said the "hundreds of millions" used to fund "Umno cyber operations" to paint DAP as anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-royalty and communist were most successful after Jasa was disbanded. 

Jasa had its roots in the Special Affairs Division. The defunct Jasa is a secretive government agency that had its roots in the 1960s when it was then called the Special Affairs Division (Cawangan Hal Ehwal Khas, Chek) under the government's Information Ministry, which has since been renamed as the Communications and Multimedia Ministry.

According to the 2019 list of government positions, Jasa had 229 full-time staff across the country before it was disbanded in January 2020. However, Jasa was widely believed to have employed contract staff with a monthly allowance of RM900 to oversee 222 parliamentary and 576 state constituencies, bringing the overall salaried staff to slightly over 1,000.

In 2017, a gathering of 942 Jasa staff was held in Alor Gajah, Malacca, themed "Ke Arah Memenangi Majoriti 2/3 Pilihan Raya Umum (PRU) Ke-14" (Towards winning a two-thirds majority in the 14th general election).

At that time, Puad had revealed that the contract staff were renewed annually. He proposed that the contracts should last for at least two years and that contract staff who had served for more than 15 years be eligible for an RM300 monthly bonus. - LKS,mk

 

cheers.